Cabinet Office

Strengthening Transparency and Fairness in Elections

Lord True: My Hon. Friend, the Minister of State for the Constitution and Devolution (Chloe Smith MP), has today made the following written statement:The Government's 2019 manifesto pledged to take steps to protect the integrity of our democracy, tackle electoral fraud, and prevent foreign interference in elections.Further to the written statements of 12 May 2021 (HCWS10) and 27 May 2021 (HCWS62), I am announcing today further measures to be included in the forthcoming Elections Bill to support public confidence in the integrity of our electoral system, by strengthening and updating political finance and campaigning regulation. This will ensure that our electoral law continues to be fair and transparent.Political partiesWhile political parties are already required to give details of their assets and liabilities in their annual accounts, a new requirement will be brought in for new political parties to declare if they have assets and liabilities of over £500 when registering with the Electoral Commission and, if so, to provide details of these. This will allow earlier public scrutiny of their finances and ensure public confidence in the transparency of all political parties’ financial positions.We will also protect the integrity of spending limits further by prohibiting third-party campaigners (also known as ‘non-party campaigners’) from additionally registering as a political party. This closes a loophole that was highlighted in the 2019 general election, as a route to access multiple spending limits and unfairly increase spending potential.Third-party campaigningAll third-party campaigning will be restricted to UK-based (or otherwise eligible, including overseas electors) campaigners, further ensuring that only groups with a legitimate interest in UK elections are able to spend money to campaign at UK elections.In addition, to bring about greater transparency in electoral campaigning, we will introduce a new tier of registration for third-party campaigners. This will require any campaigners spending more than £10,000 during a regulated period to register with the Electoral Commission, ensuring clarity about who is campaigning.The Government will extend reporting requirements for joint campaigns to cover political parties and third-party campaigners who are working together. This will ensure existing spending limits cannot be unfairly expanded by sharing costs and will rightly increase the transparency of such arrangements.CandidatesTo ensure transparency and fairness around political finance, the Elections Bill will clarify the rules on notional expenditure so that candidates and agents are only liable to report benefits in kind that they have used themselves or have directed or encouraged others to use on their behalf.Following a Supreme Court ruling in 2018, the current rules in this area have led to widespread uncertainty and risk a democratic chilling effect by discouraging parties from campaigning in marginal constituencies. This clarification will also be extended to other campaigners who are subject to notional expenditure controls. This will defend the British tradition of party leader ‘soapbox’ visits. Expenditure which promotes an individual candidature would continue to count towards a candidate’s own spending limit.Campaigning materialThe Elections Bill will legislate to extend the ‘imprint’ regime to digital campaigning material. The imprint regime ensures there is accountability over who is promoting campaigning material (and on whose behalf), provides a recourse to challenge, and can help discourage the publication of anonymous intimidatory material.The Government today is publishing a response to the consultation on how digital imprints should be implemented. This is a complex area, given the need to avoid unreasonably restricting the free speech of individuals, or impose disproportionate measures which would discourage political campaigning. These balanced measures on digital imprints will update our campaigning laws for the modern age and protect the integrity of our democratic processes. A copy of the response has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.The Government has engaged with the Electoral Commission, social media companies and political parties through the Parliamentary Parties Panel in developing all these provisions, and carefully considered policy recommendations made by respondents to the consultation, think tanks and by Parliamentary Select Committees.Overall, these measures strike the right balance between further strengthening our regulatory framework and ensuring democratic engagement in this country can continue to be vibrant and inclusive.

Declaration on Government Reform

Lord Agnew of Oulton: My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Michael Gove MP), has today made the following written statement:The COVID-19 pandemic has strained our country’s resilience like nothing we have seen out of wartime, and the public has endured huge sacrifices. Our mission now is to respond by transforming the country for the better, levelling up, and making opportunity more equal. These changes will require the re-wiring, and renewal, of government. That is why reform is necessary – not as an end in itself, but as a means of delivering the better Britain the public demands and deserves.To this end, the Cabinet and Permanent Secretaries have committed today to a collective vision for reform, agreeing immediate action on three fronts:People - ensuring that the right people are working in the right places with the right incentives;Performance - modernising the operation of government, being clear-eyed about our priorities, and objective in our evaluation of what is and is not working; andPartnership - strengthening the bond between ministers and officials, always operating as one team from policy through to delivery, and between central government and institutions outside it.The Declaration on Government Reform sets out the Government’s ambitions in more detail, with a set of concrete actions underway and more planned for the year ahead. Copies of the Declaration have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Treasury

Public Service Pensions: Government Actuary Review of the Cost Control Mechanism

Lord Agnew of Oulton: My right honourable friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Steve Barclay) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.The Government has today published the Government Actuary’s final report on his review of the cost control mechanism.The Government is committed to providing public service pensions that are fair for public sector workers and for taxpayers. The cost control mechanism was introduced into the valuation process for public service pension schemes in the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 following consultation with member representatives. It was designed to ensure a fair balance of risk with regard to the cost of providing defined benefit (DB) public service pension schemes between members of those schemes and the taxpayer.I commissioned the Government Actuary to conduct a review of the mechanism amidst concerns that it was not operating in line with its original objectives. These objectives are:To protect taxpayers from unforeseen costsTo maintain the value of pension schemes to the membersTo provide stability and certainty to benefit levels – the mechanism should only be triggered by ‘extraordinary, unpredictable events’The Government Actuary’s report sets out his findings and makes a number of recommendations on possible changes to the mechanism. The Government will respond to this report in due course.The report can be found on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-control-mechanism-government-actuarys-review-final-report

Business Plan of the United Kingdom Debt Management Office

Lord Agnew of Oulton: My honourable friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.The United Kingdom Debt Management Office (DMO) has today published its business plan for the financial year 2021-22. Copies have been deposited in the Libraries of both houses and are available on the DMO’s website, www.dmo.gov.uk.